


Stress Relief

by Drarrelie



Series: 52 Weeks of Drarry [33]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Partners, Banter, Community: hogwarts365, Drabble, Facebook: The Pen15 is Mightier, Ficlet, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, POV Harry Potter, Stress Relief, implied office sex, secret fuck buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25912957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drarrelie/pseuds/Drarrelie
Summary: Every Auror team needs their own methods for dealing with stress relief.This work is part of a series of connected weekly drabbles written during 2020.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: 52 Weeks of Drarry [33]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612318
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	Stress Relief

**Author's Note:**

> [@hogwarts365](https://hogwarts365.tumblr.com/) drabble challenge, weekly prompts #351:  
> 1\. ~~Ton-Tongue Toffee~~  
>  2\. ~~Thestralac~~  
>  3\. Therapeutic
> 
> The Pen15 is Mightier weekly drabble prompt: Desert
> 
> [adavison](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adavison), my beloved beta: I'm sorry but... after sleeping on it, I ended up rewriting practically the whole thing this morning 🙈 Keeping my fingers crossed this version doesn't contain any major issues you would've spotted had you been given a chance to look it through before posting. 💙

Harry brushes the tip of his index finger over the cool white sand, outlining the same curved shape as yesterday, and the day before. The motion is soothing, his body’s response Pavlovian.

When Malfoy had said this was a tool to relieve stress, Harry had made fun of him. Why wouldn’t he? Who the fuck has a pretentious miniature desert in their office?

“It’s not a ‘miniature desert’,” Malfoy had scowled when Harry first commented on the newest addition to his partner’s desk. “It’s a zen garden.”

“A garden?” Harry had chuckled. “Aren’t garden’s supposed to have plants? That’s just sand and stones on a tray.”

“It’s a _zen_ garden, you cretin, and it’s not supposed to have plants. It’s therapeutic. You rake patterns in the sand to practice mindfulness.”

“You mean like— Ow!”

Curious, Harry had reached for the tiny wooden rake, only to have his hand slapped away.

“Don’t you dare touch it!”

And naturally, Harry has never been able to stay away from Malfoy’s silly desert ever since.

It started with small rearrangements whenever Malfoy popped out of the office, like switching places on some of the stones or raking the sand in a different direction. Just to see whether his partner noticed.

He always did, of course, and hastened to correct it. But for some reason he never said anything.

So Harry advanced to adding random things to the arrangement: a toothpick here, a bottle cap there — even a small camel once after spotting it in a Muggle toy store when he’d been out shopping for Teddy’s birthday. And whenever his pockets were empty, he instead doodled Snitches or smileys in the sand with his fingertip.

Still nothing.

The first time Harry drew a question mark, like this one, was a few days after they… Even now, months later, Harry has no idea what they’re really doing here, only that it just happened that time, and that it seems to keep on happening even though it probably shouldn’t.

The question mark in Malfoy’s desert is one of their signs now, asking “Want some stress relief?”

Malfoy’s response is always the same: a wandless wordless Colloportus casually cast on their office door.

**Author's Note:**

> I love and cherish any and all feedback you’re willing to give me — kudos, comments and recommendations are my primary life sources.
> 
> For more interaction, please find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/drarrelie)


End file.
